[AlanHo]

Our 8 days here is nearly over and we fly home tomorrow (sunday).

I have spotted only 4 Hyundai cars so far, two i10's, one i20 and one Santa Fe. There seems to be a broad spread of vehicles here, no brand appears to be prominent and we have seen cars of most makes. There are a lot of pick-up trucks and 4x4's but most of the cars are small hatches. Audi and Mercedes seem to be represented by just their big saloons and 4x4's - I have seen none of their smaller vehicles.

One brand notable by it's perceived absence is Renault - but there are a lot of Nissan and Dacia cars here which share Renault platforms. A small Dacia 4x4 seems quite popular.  We do not see Dacia cars in the UK - I believe they are made in Rumania.

Our hire car has been a petrol Nissan Note which is a small but upright 5 door hatch about the size of an ix20. It is roomy and has a very smooth and willing engine but the steering, clutch and brakes are very heavy. The fit and finish is awful, the seats are uncomfortable and the interior trim is a mishmash of cheap plastic in all sorts of colours. It has done 37,000 km and has been fitted with new tyres on the front wheels, the rear tyres are about half worn.  However it has got us about the island without problems and has served its purpose.

Brussels has spent a lot of money on the infrastructure here since I last visited 20 years ago with good quality toll free dual lane motorways connecting the main towns. We have yet to see much traffic on any of the motorways or other roads other than in the main towns.

Despite the poor road death statistics here the standard of driving seems about par for the course. There is the usual occasional idiot but in general drivers obey the rules and are certainly better at keeping to speed limits than most Countries I have visited.

Before we came I invested in a 3rd party rod map of Cyprus for my Garmin Nuvi which has proved to be invaluable. We have been able to pre-plan all our trips to the remote scenic villages up in the mountains and along the coasts without getting lost once.

So anyone thinking of visiting Cyprus should not be put off by any poor reports they come across on the Internet. It is a lovely country, they drive on the correct side of the road, most of the popualtion speeks English, the hotels have UK electric sockets and there are Lidl supermarkets everywhere. What more could you want.

[eye30]

Safe journey home.

ps.  If you post your flight number then we can track you home via:


http://planefinder.net/

[Doggie 1]

Thanks for the report. 
May your return flight be totally free of mechanical failures and terrorists. 
See you when you get back.

[Phil №❶]

Our hire car has been a petrol Nissan Note which is a small but upright 5 door hatch about the size of an ix20. It is roomy and has a very smooth and willing engine but the steering, clutch and brakes are very heavy. The fit and finish is awful, the seats are uncomfortable and the interior trim is a mishmash of cheap plastic in all sorts of colours. It has done 37,000 km and has been fitted with new tyres on the front wheels, the rear tyres are about half worn.  However it has got us about the island without problems and has served its purpose.

Bet you miss the Megane 

[Dazzler]

Nice report Alan (as usual) Thanks 

Wish we had interesting overseas destinations close at hand .. I suppose there is always New Zealand 

[Doggie 1]

Nice report Alan (as usual) Thanks 

Wish we had interesting overseas destinations close at hand .. I suppose there is always New Zealand 

We have Rottnest. 

[AlanHo]

Try tracking flight No BA 0663 - it leaves on 29.04.12 at 16:40 hours local time and arrive London Heathrow at 19:40 (if on time). It is a 5 hour flight and there is a 2 hour time difference.

After the usual messing around at arrivals, we then have a 1 hour 40 minute cruise in the new i30 up to Solihull - so we should be home by about 22:00 hrs.

My wife is in for a big shock.

We moved house 18 months ago and we have carried out lots of mods and additions to the house. The banisters on the stairs and landing are classic georgian spindles - but painted white. She has been banging on about stripping the paint off and varnishing them a natural wood colour - but I consider it to be totally impractical - if not impossible - to strip off all the paint to bare wood. However - she is undaunted and has every intention of setting too herself when we get back home to prove it can be done...

So I have cut her off at the pass. 

I gave the house key to a builder friend (plus the required cash) for him to remove all the existing banisters and replace them with solid oak ones and oil them to match our doors whilst we were away. She hasn't got a clue about it.

For once I am looking forward to getting back home from holiday. Her reaction is going to be most interesting and I am confident of getting lots of house points. I have got a semi just thinking about it......

[Doggie 1]

A semi what Alan? 
That's priceless.
I hope she notices though. I mean if she can walk right past a new i30, what hope do you have with new banisters, really?

[rustynutz]

Brussels has spent a lot of money on the infrastructure here since I last visited 20 years ago with good quality toll free dual lane motorways connecting the main towns. We have yet to see much traffic on any of the motorways or other roads other than in the main towns.

Ok, I'm confused....Why did Brussels spend money on the infrastructure? 

[AlanHo]

One of the attractions for small European countries to join the European Union is that they then qualify for funds to bring their country up to the standards enjoyed by the major partners.  Money is lavished on them for new roads, health facilities, utilities, high speed railways, airports, water supply & drainage, education and all manner of things.

And where does the money come from? - the so called rich members of the EU like Germany, the UK, France etc all pay massive annual levies to the central EU authorities in Brussels who decide on how it is spent.

Recent holidays in Tenerife, Madiera, Portugal, & Spain have amazed me regarding how much better their infrastructure now is - compared with the UK. They all have new motorways carrying hardly any traffic, Spain and Portugal have new railways and goodness knows what else. Meanwhile the UK falls further and further behind - our roads are awful, traffic congestion is rife and our railways are at best a joke and at worst a disgrace. Yet despite this - we are still forking out for other countries to be given better facilities than our own.

I guess you think I am a bit of a nationalist who is fed up with the decline of Britain - and you would be right. The sooner the EU breaks up, the better, as far as I am concerned.

Rant over......................for now anyway...

[rustynutz]

Thanks for making things clearer for me, Alan...  

[AlanHo]

Driving back to our hotel after a lovely day out today, were were cruising along the motorway at about 75 km/h when a motorbike pulled alongside us in the right hand lane and made no effort to overtake. Suddenly he gunned the throttle and did a wheelie alongside our car - keeping pace with us for a couple of hundred metres before I got worried I might join him in an accident and put my brakes on. He then accelerated down the road - still on one wheel - and pulled alongside a car way in front of us to show off to that driver.

I have never seen anything like it in my life - crazy but so skilled.

I would have liked to have kept going to see how long he could keep it up - but my wife was so worried about it she insisted I slowed right down to let him vanish out of sight.

We seem to have had a motorbike themed day - we have seen lots of them about, possibly because it is the week-end. One in particular caught my eye parked opposite a restaurant we stopped at for lunch - I think I want one like this.

[Phil №❶]

He wouldn't have been able to do that, if he wasn't on an EU funded road. 

[Dazzler]

That is indeed a lovely bike Alan 

Will you have before and after photos of your stairs Alan (I would be interested to see) and ideally a hidden camera of your wife's reaction would be great... Could you try and keep out of the picture though.. I don't really want to see your semi...

[Doggie 1]

I recall many years ago back in the dreamtime, two of us were on patrol when we saw the rider of a motorbike pull a big wheelie.
He kept it up for a long time too, before dropping it down following which we checked his speed at 110 km/h in a 60 km/h zone.
Good enough for reckless driving we thought - no steering control when only on the back wheel plus nearly double the speed limit in a suburban street.
It went to court and we lost. 
It turns out he was a professional motorbike racing rider and he managed to convince the court that he had the skill to do those things safely.
Go figure.
I still reckon it was an incorrect decision, but you get that.

[rustynutz]

Love it!!! 

Still, I betcha he wouldn't win these days....

[Phil №❶]

we checked his speed at 110 km/h in a 60 km/h zone.

So, how did he beat 110 in a 60 zone. 

[Doggie 1]

we checked his speed at 110 km/h in a 60 km/h zone.

So, how did he beat 110 in a 60 zone. 

We charged him with Reckless Driving and the facts for that charge included all he did, including the speed.
So when he was found not guilty of Reckless it meant he was free to go and do it again.
Which I'm sure he did.

[Phil №❶]

Isn't exceeding the speed limit by xx a specific charge. (xx is a sliding scale of fine based on xx value)

[Doggie 1]

Isn't exceeding the speed limit by xx a specific charge. (xx is a sliding scale of fine based on xx value)

Yes it is, but they have to be charged with speeding to be convicted of speeding.
When you charge someone you swear a complaint in front of a Justice of the Peace specifying what the charge is.
If some is charged with Reckless Driving, then all that they did goes to make up the one charge, then it is up to the prosecution to prove each element of the complaint beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
He wasn't charged with speeding and it isn't open to the court to convict of a lesser offence of speeding when the Reckless is dismissed.
The defendant could be convicted of the lesser charge of Dangerous Driving or Careless Driving but not speeding.
If that makes sense...? 

[Phil №❶]

 

[Asterix]

Some times law and justice is very hard to understand..

[babis_xo]

One of the attractions for small European countries to join the European Union is that they then qualify for funds to bring their country up to the standards enjoyed by the major partners.  Money is lavished on them for new roads, health facilities, utilities, high speed railways, airports, water supply & drainage, education and all manner of things.

And where does the money come from? - the so called rich members of the EU like Germany, the UK, France etc all pay massive annual levies ...

Then, an "unexpected" financial attack occurs, "surprisingly" the small countries standards doesn't allow for the loans to be paid back therefore ask for "help" which is ungrudgingly given with a predatory rate, debt increases 200% in two years. Finally, that is in 3yrs, the so called rich countries demand and take exploitation of the countrie's new & brought-up standards (plus some old... air, sun and sea), at a cost submultiple than the initial.
*Disclaimer: All events appearing in this story are entirely fictional*

Europian Union was a great idea, maybe it should remain like this